When India adopted free economic policy, we entered into the global competition. It must be noted at first that the new economic policy was formulated when Narsinh Rao was the Prime Minister and current Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was the Finance Minister; as a result of which, our nation is en route to becoming global economic super power.
Truly speaking, this was an ambitious move of the then Government for facing the up coming challenges. Their harsh decisions taken at that time made Indian society, especially the industrial sphere enter into global competition. How long could we sustain that competition was the fear felt by some.
But today we can say proudly, that we have not only sustained the competition, but also we have risen as one of the Superpowers in the world.
Today we are regarded as the country with highest number of young people. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased significantly. Our industries are growing despite of several international challenges. Information technology has established our new identity before the world. Indian vehicle industry also has grown outside India. A group such as Tata takes over car brands such as “Jaguar”, “Land Rover” which are high profile. Laxmi Mittal group has taken over powerful Arsenal Company. In all, last decade was the turning point where predominance of Indians started. Despite of several obstacles, average rate of economic development remained 8.7 during the period 2005-06 to 2008-09. Per Capita Income is seen to increase from 7.2%. International recession had its impacts on the Indian economy which was growing close to 9% for three consecutive years and in 2008, the rate of development reduced to 6.7%. Now it is expected to rise to 7.2; but that will not be easy. This indicates unevenness of Indian economy. Of course, despite of resistive economic and financial conditions, we achieved rapid development in 2006 and 2007. Therefore it would not be wrong to expect that development will not be affected by resistive economical conditions. Indian economy has remained safe in the world recession due to its powerful banking system.
This cannot be neglected. In Western countries, banking sector suffered from problems due to dangerous distribution of loans and then a cycle of recession started. This is a main difference between their and our conditions. Therefore there is no need to worry. But we must remain cautious.
Base of true development in any country is built on its basic
infrastructure. Development of basic infrastructure i.e. infrastructure development will be the central force determining direction of development in our country. We are competing with the population of China. The planned development program for development of infrastructure and a simultaneous focus given to education, health and industrial sectors is a clear eye opener for us.
Rulers in our country brought plans for development of infrastructure services by recognizing this need of the hour. Formidable provisions were made for that in the five year plans. An important project connecting all states in the country with each other or slum alleviation program, efforts have been made in India. Stark scarcity of electricity in our country was a major concern, but it had not been adequately attended. Now it is utmost necessary to increase technological infrastructure services in our country which is a messenger of the revolution led by information technology. This way, this sector is facing several challenges simultaneously as true development is dependent on that only.
If the problem of energy will not be solved, then how we would fulfill our increased requirement, is an unanswered question. How industry supportive environment will be created, if there are no pucca roads, water availability, electric supply or telephone connectivity? Moreover, the significant sectors of social education and health still remain neglected up to an extent.
If balance of development will not be maintained, there will be inevitable struggle between ‘haves’ and ‘have not’s. Therefore this is high time for doing development centered tasks with full use of capacity. Unfortunately, the development schemes for development of infrastructure facilities have not been started to their capacity. It is certain that everyone will face the impacts if proper expenditure is not ear marked for infrastructure development. It is cleared mentioned in Mackenzie’s report that impacts of urbanization will become serious till 2020. In this case, if we fail to plan for long term, then the possibility is more that cities will become more ugly than developed.
Development plan has not implemented in metropolitan cities such as Pune. Actually in such case, planning of coming 50 or 100 years is expected; but old plan itself has not been formulated. New development plan is limited only to debate. Population is increasing by lakh per year and at the same time; citizens are struggling for basic commodities such as water, road transport or vehicular transport. This all makes it obligatory, that a down to earth city development plan should be decided collectively by all stakeholders and its strict and timely implementation up to its capacity should be conducted. This has highest priority for me. To conclude, merely formulating policies will not suffice; the need of the hour is its strict, appropriate and timely implementation….. In fact it is the call of a new India.
